


welcome to my cage, little lover

by blackkat



Series: Horoscope Drabbles [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 14:35:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17245946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: The creature chuckles, and as Genma watches his upper body shifts, changes. He loses the more monstrous features, and a moment later a blue-skinned man with a shark’s tail is hauling himself all the way up to sit on the bank, his tail still dangling in the water. “No one has to get hurt,” he says, and deliberately sets Genma's knife on the grass. “You unlocked my prison. I'm not going to eat the guy who helped me out.”





	welcome to my cage, little lover

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt from Normal Horoscopes on Tumblr: 
> 
> Aquarius: You make camp for the night at the edge of a small pond. No fish are biting. Your foot runs across a sharp stone on the bottom. As you tend to the small cut you look into the water. Teeth.

He’s bleeding in the water.

Genma pauses, almost surprised. He didn’t even feel the cut, but it must have been one of the stones on the bottom of the pond. The water is almost unsettlingly dark, but he can feel the rocks, most worn smooth by the sand but some jagged, like daggers in the darkness.

It feels wrong, the sight of the blood clouding the water, and Genma feels a shiver trace down his spine. His mother was always so careful, always told him that blood had too many uses to not be wary of even a drop spilled where it shouldn’t be. The words ring in his ears, and Genma mutters a curse at himself, pulling himself back up onto the grassy bank and sinking down, legs folded under him. The ball of his foot is bleeding, and it’s nothing serious, but—

But.

Well, it’s not like trying to find some fish for his dinner was working, Genma thinks wryly. Nothing’s interested in his presence, or maybe he just scared them all away. It means hardtack and dried fruit again tonight, but that’s all right. He can hunt tomorrow, while he’s traveling, and maybe find a hare or a grouse for his dinner.

Kakashi would organize a hunting party, stalk right out into the twilight and probably return with a boar, but Genma isn't nearly so motivated. It’s been a long day of walking, and he still has at least a week to go before he breaks through the forest, but he’s not hurrying. His quest was successful, but not urgent, and he’s enjoying the peace of traveling alone.

And then, out of the corner of his eye, he catches a flash of something big, with _teeth._

In an instant he’s moving, throwing himself back, rolling, coming up with a knife as he twists into a crouch. He lets it fly without waiting, right at the shape rising from the water of the small pond, and grabs for his bow and quiver. Too big, he thinks, and it’s something like incredulous. Something that big shouldn’t have been able to _fit_ in a pond that size without Genma at least seeing it, and yet—

The creature catches his knife, plucks it out of midair with ease, and laughs. “Hey, hey,” he says, and that voice is incongruously cheerful as he hauls himself out of the pond. Blue-grey skin, fins, gills—Genma has seen sharks before, he can tell what this guy looks like. “Someone could get hurt if you keep tossing those things around.”

Genma snorts, though he doesn’t lower his bow. “Somehow I get the feeling that it wouldn’t be me,” he says dryly.

The creature chuckles, and as Genma watches his upper body shifts, changes. He loses the more monstrous features, and a moment later a blue-skinned man with a shark’s tail is hauling himself all the way up to sit on the bank, his tail still dangling in the water. “No one has to get hurt,” he says, and deliberately sets Genma's knife on the grass. “You unlocked my prison. I'm not going to eat the guy who helped me out.”

…Well. As far as things that can happen because of blood go, that one seems quite a bit less sinister than most. Carefully, Genma eases the arrow off his string, releasing the bow’s tension, and slides the arrow back into his quiver. “Let me guess,” he says with amusement. “You getting locked up in a tiny pond a week from the ocean was a complete misunderstanding and I should trust you.”

The shark mer laughs, rubbing the bridge of his nose almost bashfully. “I like to fight,” he confesses. “I only went after the ships with armed soldiers or pirates, though.”

Genma snorts, lets himself relax as he moves closer. “Then I don’t have a problem with it,” he says, and sinks down a handful of feet from the mer. “Genma, of the King’s Rangers.”

The mer looks entirely delighted by the hand Genma offers him, and takes it happily. “Kisame,” he says cheerfully. “Of the Western Sea. Any chance you know the way back to it?”

King Hiruzen will probably murder him for hauling someone with a penchant for attaching ships back to the kingdom but Genma's not about to leave the guy stranded in a tiny pond in the middle of nowhere. “Sure,” he says easily, and grins at Kisame. “I let you out, so it’s the least I can do, right?”

Kisame chuckles, and his teeth are sharp and white as he leans in, reaching up to brush Genma's hair back from his face with a light touch. “I’d appreciate that,” he says, and there's intent in his eyes that makes Genma's breath tangle in his throat. “I’d appreciate that a lot, Genma.”


End file.
